I was driving down a hill towards a light that was turning red. Put my foot on the clutch and then slowly depress the brake to start a slow stop, than I feel something under my right foot. I quickly reach down to grab it so I can finish my stop at the light. What do I find but a spring that I have no idea where it came from and of course its covered in grease which is now all over my fingers and trying not to get it all over my steering wheel. I stop at a gas station to clean my hands and went to look under my dash to see where this spring might have come from. I look at the clutch first and follow it up to the top where I see a similar spring hanging at the top and also seems to be broken.

Well at this point the car still seems to drive ok. The clutch is now a little lose between the out position and when it starts grabbing but it still does its job enough to drive around. Make an appointment with the dealership 5 days later and when I take it in the guy tells me that "Its pretty slow right now should be fixed up in about an hour" he's thinking the same thing I am the spring might just need to be popped back in. Phones me 5 minutes later before i even left the dealership to come back to see him, first thing that pops in my head is the spring is broken and needs to be replaced and they have to order one in. Understandable I think. But of course that isn't the case, he tells me that the guy looked at it and said the car is deemed unsafe to drive and the entire clutch pedal assembly (possibly including the brake pedal) needs to be replaced and the part has to be shipped from Detroit (I live in Vancouver on the west coast) and it'll take 7 to 10 days for delivery.
I'm driving a crappy ass 4 door Cobalt with only 23,000 km on it but drives like it has 200,000 km on it.

I WANT MY CAR BACK!!!!!

Anyone ever heard of this happening to other SS's? The service guy said for him it was a first for him to see the entire clutch pedal assembly that needs to be replaced.

ps. it is being replaced under warranty, I just hope the problem won't repeat again down the road.

 

So how did this repair turn out KinseySS? The reason i ask is that my clutch pedal spring broke this week also. I found part of it under my floor mat when cleaning out the car today.

I hadn't noticed any real differnce until I found it, but it seems like it just keeps the pedal up at full height properly when it is a full spring. It droops slightly down from there with only half a spring on there.

I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow and see if I can get them to replace just the spring. At 45K mi. I am out of the bumper-bumper warrantly, but they were just working under there a week ago with the throttle pedal assembly wiring problem I had. It could be related I'd say.

 

Hope this isn't a general problem. This is the first I've seen posted about it. Glad it was fixed under warrantee. CarlsSS, you can try to make the argument that its part of the drive train, (certainly direct connects to it) and its failure is certainly not a result of bad driving habits, as worn clutch plates can be. Don't know if you can sell that, but its sure worth a try!

 

Thanks Laco, I'm not overly concerned with it, but I certainly want it fixed. I talked to the dealer and am dropping it off tonight. I suggested that it is probably related to the mechanic having to do all the disassembly and work in that area and he didn't seem to dispute that. He just wants to have the mechanic take a look at it to make a call on it of course.

Hard to believe that they cannot replace just the spring as a separate component though… It looks like it is totally accessible. The only thing may be the issue of getting it popped back in there with preload on it. It is a fairly heavy spring, but obviously the tensile strength of the steel is not quite right or something is out of alignment causing it to fail.

 

They must have loaned you a beat-on Cobalt rental. I've driven Cobalts of owners who took care of them (just as we do with our HHR SS') and was just as happy with the ride quality as the HHR. The practicality of the HHR is what swayed me in that direction.

Maybe the reason is that they both are based on the same Delta platform. The Cobalt is assembled in Lordstown, OH. The HHR is assembled in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.

Back to the thread... Did you see this post? Not sure if it's the same thing, but it's worth a look:

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/show...t=Clutch+Pedal

I hope that the dealer gets this clutch spring/assembly issue fixed for you in short order. More than meets the eye.

 

I know its stupid but I think one of the reasons why they have to replace the whole assembly is that they only supply the whole assembly, than they could take the old one and maybe refurbish it, but who knows.

Its funny you brought this thread up again cause I had to send in my car back in yesterday (just got it back today) because they installed the spring on backwards and it was rubbing against the bracket causing it to stick to like rubbing your finger on freshly washed tupperware.

 

I know what you mean about replacing the whole thing as a unit, but fortunately for me it appears I don't have to. The dealer called and said it was just the spring, and he ordered it today. It will not be covered under warranty, but I guess it doesn't surprise me. It is only $20 so it isn't a big deal, but I don't think parts like this should be breaking on a 2 year old car...

At least if I am installing it myself, I can gaurantee it will be put in the correct orientation!

 

Why isn't it covered under warranty?

 

Because my 36K bumper/bumper is expired and it is not covered under the 100K engine/drivetrain warranty. He said his mechanic never touched or disassembled that clutch pedal assembly when repairing the gas pedal and it's wiring harness, so it would not be covered by them...